Once virtually eliminated from the lower 48 United States, wolves are clawing their way back from extinction since Defenders and others successfully fought for their re-introduction into Yellowstone National Park and the Northern Rockies in 1995.

When federal protections were lifted in March 2008, it opened the doors to a flood of wolf-killing on a scale not seen for decades. The famous wolf "Limpy," named because of an injured leg, was a beloved member of Yellowstone's Druid Peak Pack. He was gunned down the very day federal protections were removed.

In spite of a successful legal challenge (Defenders of Wildlife vs. Hall), where a federal judge temporarily restored federal protections for wolves, the Bush/Cheney administration has again decided to push the delisting of these imperiled creatures. If they are successful, two thirds of the wolves in the Greater Yellowstone region face potential slaughter.

Meanwhile, Alaska continues its brutal program of allowing the aerial hunting of wolves. Through this barbaric practice, aerial gunners shoot wolves from aircraft, or chase them to exhaustion. Then they land and shoot the helpless wolves at point-blank range. Defenders is fighting this practice in Alaska and also working to pass the Protect America's Wildlife (PAW) Act in Congress which would nationally ban aerial hunting.

And in the Southwest, fewer than 60 wolves struggle to maintain a foothold in the wild as anti-wolf forces rally to eliminate their very existence. [link]